WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO MIDYEAR?

By: Maryah Haidery, Fellowship Director

formal shoes (make sure you break them in before midyear!). For girls: backup flats (I used to carry these in my bag and they were a life-saver!)

Casual wear in case you actually have time to hang out (some people completely forgot to bring this and ended up wearing suits everywhere...)

A padfolio (I found this very helpful to keep all my resumes, notes, schedules and business cards. Plus it makes you look professional)

30-40 copies of your CV or ~3-5 for every position that you apply to (especially if you apply to the Rutgers program since there are 3 rounds of interviews and multiple interviewers per round).

Business cards (optional). I spent a lot of money making business cards but ended up hardly using them so I’m not sure it was the best investment. If you do bring them, consider attaching them to your CV with a paper clip

Hard copies of any fellowship brochures. It was extremely helpful to flip through these before interviews

Thank-you cards (~50; optional).

Hard copies of all your presentations, journal clubs, research posters, and publications

A schedule sheet that lists the day and splits it up into times for interviewing to track which interviews you have scheduled.

Water and snacks

Pro Tip: if you are checking luggage at the airport, bring a carry-on with some CVs and one suit if possible – people have had their luggage lost in the past, this way it will be one less thing to worry about if that happens!

​Now that MIdyear is closing in (less than a month, everyone!), I'm seeing more and more of my P4 friends start to feel the nerves set in. A common question I've been getting (from both classmates and from the wonderful students I've been meeting and speaking to at career fairs) is if I have any tips for Midyear and the upcoming interview season. And I'm always super eager to lead them to this blog!

But one thing I realized I hadn't uploaded yet was how I prepared for Midyear and my PPS interviews last year. So what I thought would be super helpful to share would be:

a set of sample interview questions, and

advice on how I prepped and organized my thoughts

a sample candidate evaluation form, so you know what we're looking for in you on the other side of the table,

plus some general advice and tips from Maryah (my fellowship director!)

And just as an aside - like 99% of the questions I ended up actually being asked on my PPS and onsite interviews were on this list! (This can apply for both residency and fellowship.)

The sample questions include common logistical questions and also the infamous "Situational Questions" (a term I'm sure you are all familiar with by now..) In case you wanted a refresher, here's the general "STAR" approach to answering Situational Questions (via Indeed):

Using this method, you create a deliberate story arc that your interviewer can easily follow.

Situation: What is the context of your story? In setting the situation, you are telling your listener when or where this event took place. For example, “We were working on a six-month contract for a high-value client, when our agency merged with another, larger firm…”

Task: What was your role in this situation? For example, “It was my role to lead the transition for my group while also communicating with our client to keep the project on track.”

Action: What did you do? For example, “I set up weekly check-ins with the client to update them on the progress of the merger. This cemented an important level of trust between us. I also had regular one-on-ones with each person on the team, both to assess how they were handling the change and to make sure we would meet our deadlines.”

Result: What did your actions lead to? For example, “We ended up completing the project on time, meeting all of their specifications. It was incredibly rewarding to navigate a lot of change and succeed under pressure.”

But unfortunately, none of that meant much to me until I started forcing myself to answer those questions in the list in the context of my own experiences - and more importantly, remembering all of my answers during an actual interview. So I put together a helpful grid that I could easily call upon in a time of stress - and I'm attaching it for you below!

(and how to use it:)Once you download the document above, you'll see that each box has the most common situational questions from residency and fellowship interviewers alike (can confirm: I was asked each of them at one point last year). Fill out each empty square with your Top 3 answers and have ALL THREE prepped, on-hand and ready to go. This is in case you use one situation already in another question - you'll have another (your second choice) already prepared. Also, be prepared to talk in-depth about each of the answers you pick. If you do nothing else to prepare for your interviews this year - make this table and your answers it!

Other Advice/Tips

BY MARYAH HAIDERY, FELLOWSHIP DIRECTOR

​Bring water and snacks! – It is exhausting and depending on how many positions you apply for, you can have back to back interviews and have interviews all day.

The first thing almost everyone will ask is “So tell me a little about yourself”. You need to have a great answer for this question. It should be succinct but give them an idea of what kind of person you are, what your interests are and why you chose that position.

Be prepared for situational questions, be able to talk about leadership experiences, rotation experiences, pretty much anything on your CV that will make you stand out from the other candidates; know what is in their brochure and research extra questions to ask about their company/program.

**Important: Research each company you are going to be interviewing for!!! I can’t stress how important this is. Know the responsibilities the fellow/resident would have and you can frame some of your answers around them.

Use specific examples rather than generalizations. This is where thinking about questions and preparing a list (the grid!) of examples ahead of time comes in handy. You can even bring it with you during interviews to look at if you end up blanking.

**Important: Know your own research, presentations and journal clubs inside out!!! Anything that is on your resume is fair game. That is why I suggest bringing a hard copy of all of these to Midyear. ​

Hopefully all of these tools will be helpful for you during your journey to a successful Midyear! As always, if you have any questions or just want to chat - feel free to reach out!

By Shifa Zachariah, P4, University of the Sciences

​How often have you heard your retail pharmacy manager a) wishing they never went to pharmacy school b) did a residency, or my personal favorite c) advising you to stay as far away from the community setting as possible while you are still young and have some hope for the future? And if you work in retail, how often have you found yourself envious of your friends who managed to secure a hospital job or that obscure job in the pharmaceutical industry?

Well, if you can relate to any of the above, you are certainly not alone. According to a recent study, over 50% of community pharmacists want to quit their jobs! And a recent workforce survey from AACP reported that pharmacists from all practice areas are increasingly stressed, having difficulty seeking new jobs, and experiencing lower levels of job satisfaction with an incessantly increasing workload.

Why do we feel like we have been stuck in a rut? Surely none of us can forget the grueling amount of work and stress we endured as students in pharmacy school and of course the ominous student loans following us into retirement. So why settle? There is a myriad of other non-traditional options which are available for pharmacists.

Not convinced? Consider this list of just some non-traditional practice settings for pharmacists:

Managed care pharmacist

Regulatory jobs at the FDA

Pharmacologist

Consumer safety officer

Regulatory health project manager

Reviewer

Pharmaceutical industry

Medical science liaison

Medical information professionals

Drug safety

Regulatory

Marketing

Medical communications – medical writing (oh look, that's us!)

Compounding pharmacist

Pharmacogenomic pharmacist

Health information pharmacist

Consulting pharmacist

Veterinary pharmacist

If you happen to be one of those individuals who always enjoyed writing and belonged to the group of pharmacy students who did not think that Writing 101 was a “waste of time since you are a science major, duh!”, you may consider medical writing as a career!

Medical writers provide clients with specific expertise to meet diverse marketing challenges. They offer decades of experience in effectively communicating educational messages through print, live meetings, and electronic media. Medical writers are able to combine scientific expertise with strategic thinking and marketing in areas such as strategic publication planning, audiovisual presentations, and special event planning for some of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world.And if you are now wondering how to go about becoming a medical writer - you're in the right place! Our MedVal/PharmaWrite 1-year postdoctoral fellowship in the medical communication industry is a great place to get started in the field. Apply for our fellowship today!

Now if you see yourself happy working in a retail setting, by all means follow your dream, but for the rest of us seemingly stuck in a rut, why not give one of these non-traditional options a chance?